How is the Sacred Working in Your Life?

While many wellbeing modalities focus on self-care, spiritual direction is soul-care.

It’s about deepening your connection with the Divine. Cultivating a meaningful relationship with God, Spirit, Universe, or whatever you call the Sacred in your life.

With my companionship and guidance you will cultivate a deeper awareness of yourself and your spiritual journey. Either individually or in a group, you may share your experiences, listen, sing, be silent, learn – and above all – gain a deeper appreciation of holiness in your and of your life.

Spiritual direction is a unique opportunity for profound personal growth which can lead to positive change and self-empowerment. I listen deeply to whatever is on your mind and in your heart, while serving as a holy mirror to point out issues that may be emotional or intimate.

Spiritual Direction is not counselling, coaching or a replacement for professional psychotherapy. It can, however, complement therapy since spirit is a part of our whole being.

Types of Spiritual Direction

Individual

Individual sessions are typically once a month for about an hour. You, as the individual being guided, are free to share whatever comes up. Together we listen deeply for wisdom and guidance. It is always about what works best for you. I am located in Denver, Colorado, but I can hold sessions via web conference as well.

Group

Groups typically meet monthly for approximately 90 minutes and include 4-8 people. Participants have the opportunity to share what is arising for them at the time of the meeting and to help those sharing to deepen their understanding of the Sacred. The key to group spiritual direction is a commitment to each other and openness to the process of discovery. Groups are forming now.

Why Nature

There’s nowhere better to experience spiritual direction than in the raw beauty of the Colorado wilderness.

Even those who don’t adhere to any religion can attest that being in nature touches them deeply, on a spiritual level. We feel more alive because we’re surrounded by life. We have evolved to be attuned to nature.

How is it spiritual though? Have you ever talked to a tree? Or felt its joy? While that may sound outlandish, it’s in our Psalms: 

Let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar with all its fullness;

Let the field exult; and all that is it; then shall all the trees of the wood sing for joy.

– Psalm 96 

The trees and woods sing for joy! 

In Jewish tradition, every plant and blade of grass has its own angel hovering over it telling it, “Grow.”  Rabbi Abraham Kook, the first chief rabbi of Israel, echoes Psalms saying;

Every part of the vegetable world is singing a song and bringing forth a secret of the divine mystery of creation.

Everything is infused with the Divine.

Of course, this is not just a Jewish concept. Christian spiritual director Mary DeJong says;

This great Flaring Forth (language that Thomas Berry and Brian Swim used to describe the Big Bang) describes the moment when God decided to manifest, materialize, self-expose within the universe, in the natural world, in the more than human world…so that every form of life becomes a Theophany, a God-showing, a revelation of Eternal, Sacred Rhythms. So creation, then, is the primary incarnation, the primary revelation of the Divine.

What does this mean for our spiritual practice? Well, Martin Buber says that we can enter into the I-Thou relationship with a tree or plant. Perhaps Japanese poet Kobayashi Issa can help with this:

In the cherry blossom’s shade

there’s no such thing

as a stranger.

Indeed, in the natural world and wilderness we can enter a deeper connection with creation, with Spirit and with ourselves. With practice (and maybe a little luck!) we can feel a little bit of that ‘Infinite Unity of Everything’ as one of my teachers, Rabbi Marcia Prager says.

Nature and humanity have a symbiotic relationship. The trees breathe in what we breathe out and vice versa. In turn, the natural world responds to us, as we respond to it. Thus, we feel the spiritual principle that we receive love to give love.